Why did the Communist system fail in the 1980's? What were the different reasons in individual countries?

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Why did the Communist system fail in the 1980's? What were the different reasons in individual countries? The communist system fell for various reasons. In time, I don't think that this could have been avoided as the communist ideal had a basic flaw in it. It misunderstood human nature. Their ideology was based on every man working to the best of his ability for the good of the nation. However, humans will not work for more than they have to and therefore this massive decline in the quality of the work in communism led to its downfall as there was no will to work. One of the main reasons that communism fell in the 1980's was that over the years, the Cold War had drained them of their money. The Space Race stripped them of 20% of their entire national income as they spent billions on their defence. This took away lots of money from their economy which they could have spent on the poor and needy but since this was not the case, the communist standard of living, especially in the USSR, declined. This caused communism to have a bad image and most of the people disliked it as they saw the riches and wealth of the west in contrast to their rags. ...read more.

Middle

However, what he didn't realise was that the machine was broken. The government had turned communism against itself. Perestroika wanted renewal and reformation of the communist party to stamp out the corruption. However, many people wanted to get rid of the party altogether. It was this hatred he underestimated. Glasnost told people to speak out but he did not realise that the satellite states had deep rooted hatred towards the communist regime and their leaders a in the case of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, they remembered how their loved ones were destroyed. That is why demonstrations occurred such as the March 1986, the unofficial Hungarian Independence day celebration. Lastly, the final breakdown of communism was the destruction of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.It was set up to prevent East Berliners to cross over to the West. Since Hungary opened its Austrian border, the wall became useless and so therefore, it was a sign to show that communism was defeated. It sparked rebellions around Eastern Europe and slowly the Soviet Union fell apart by the end of 1991. In separate satellite countries the reasons for the downfall of communism in them started with different reasons. ...read more.

Conclusion

He was afraid that the Domino effect might work in reverse and what happens in Czechoslovakia might spread to the other satellite states. Therefore, the Brezhnev doctrine is born and even though he sent in troops to Czhechoslovakia, there was no bloodshed as they surrendered peacefully. So, the 'Prague Spring' brought the Brezhnev doctrine and a hard-line communist government. As you can see these countries were both brought back under the Soviet control through force. They both had reforms passed that the USSR did not like and were therefore responded to viciously. However, in the 1980's the USSR was in a great economic crisis. It did not have the money to deal with the uprisings as it did before. With the introduction of the new president (Gorbachev), who was realistic and knew that it was inadvisable to use the same tactics as his predecessors. They had just pulled out of Afghanistan, which cost them billions and received international condemnation. If they started to attack another country, to suppress the people, not only would it take a huge toll on the Soviet economy but the international image would be very shaken and could lead to confrontation. ...read more.

Related AS and A Level International History, 1945-1991 essays

increase in the standard of living conditions that never happened, and so Gorbachev was seen as being incapable of making much needed decisions. This wasn't helped by Gorbachev's failure to approve Grigory Yavlinsky's 500 day economic plan in September 1990 as this lost him any remaining support he still had from the Soviet people.

He wanted to be a strong and powerful leader, but he made a lot of poor decisions, because of his lack of experience and knowledge. Nicholas appeared arrogant towards his nation and did not seem to show a lot of care for his people.

Roosevelt was indeed the only American president in history to be elected to four terms in office. He certainly carried the majority of the population along with him. Although, it must be stated that he also earned the undying enmity, of a large section of the American conservative right, who blamed Roosevelt for introducing " socialist" policies to America i.e.

This was where they decide what to do next. Chapter 2 After a long discussion and still no answer from any of the generals, Major Roberts cuts in. "What missile sites that can reach us do the Russians have?" General Williams knowing a fair amount on the intelligence side of this replies in quick response "Not that many".

and the right to participate, of the population, by improving their living standards through industrial growth. This can be seen as the 'deals' of Developed Socialism. However by banking on foreign technology and investment through the years of d�tente Brezhnev neglected development of domestic technology, and the economy.

as 'counter-revolutionary' and were certainly not in the same vein as the Hungarian uprising of 1956. "Dubcek repeatedly spoke only of expanding priestor which can be roughly translated as 'space' or 'scope', to allow wider participation."6 The reason that Dubcek decided to adopt this policy of priestor seems to relate

The public demanded radical democratization and Gorbachev truly desired to bring about the change, but to continue to enjoy the party's support he claimed that the accomplishments and values of socialism would be preserved. In this early stage of his administration, Gorbachev knew that he serving two masters.